Whether you are looking to invest or looking for a home for yourself, when buying a home, you are looking for the best deal while still getting what you need and desire in your home.

Alan Glass, on REALTOR.com, outlines the three principles a home buyer needs to apply when making a purchase.

1.      What Kind of an Investor are you? Are you willing to put in the elbow grease it will take to uncover that buried treasure? Or are you looking for something that you can move into in a neighborhood with long standing value?

2.      Invest with a Margin of Safety: minimize risk by basing your purchase on your actual income, rather than fabricated or scheduled income." Says Glass. "The burden of a monthly mortgage payment becomes much heavier in trying times."  In other words, stick to your budget.

3.      Expect Fluctuation in the Market. "The market will fluctuate, and sometimes wildly." Warns Glass. "Rather than fearing volatility, use it to your advantage to get bargains in the market or to sell out when your holdings become way overvalued."

Making sound decisions in the home buying process will result in a successful purchase and a happy home.  "In order to make smart decisions, home buyers today must understand their tolerance for risk, plan for unexpected surprises by building in a margin of safety, and prepare themselves to act when opportunities present themselves." says Glass.

Read the full story at REALTOR.com.

photo credit: nola.agent

Posted in Buyer Resources, Real Estate Trends

Your home is your largest asset, are you adequately covered by your homeowners insurance policy?

If you're reading this and you're not sure... let this be a great reminder to find your policy, call your agent and get a review. 

Fox Business News offers "The Ins and Outs of Homeowners Insurance" to help you understand your basic policy needs. 

"Go ahead and pull out your insurance policy binder," says FBN,  "it's about 40 pages thick, then flip to the third or fourth page that contains line items like: Building/Dwelling, Separate Structures, Personal Property, Loss of Use, Medical, and Extended Replacement.  This details how much coverage you have in case of a loss."

Building/Dwelling Coverage will cover the cost to rebuild your property.

Liability Coverage comes into play if someone gets hurt on your property; think: "slip and fall" or if your dog bites someone.

Usually this has a limit of $300,000, but you can get an "umbrella policy" to buy additional coverage, if necessary. Keep in mind that replacement costs can be much higher than market value.

The deductible amount is how much you pay out of pocket for each incident. The higher your deductible, the lower your annual insurance payment. Decide what makes financial sense for your situation.

HOA/Common Interest Development Properties: If you own a unit in a condominium, townhome, co-op, PUD or any other common interest development, whether a personal residence or an investment property, make sure you have an interior HO-6 policy that covers you for damage to the inside of your unit, PLUS for liability in case your unit floods all the units below you. This isn't covered by most homeowners association's master insurance policy."

Personal Property: If you have expensive artwork, jewelry or other items, you should add these to your insurance policy to make sure they are covered.

If you have a claim,  important to consider whether your claim requires insurance coverage.  Most claims are smaller than the deductible, so just handle them yourself, suggests the article.  "Reserve making claims for when everything hits the fan."

The most important thing to do? Is to make sure you aren't underinsured and it's a good idea to review your policy every year.

Read the full article at FoxBusienssNews.com

Photo Source: Examiner.com

Posted in Buyer Resources, Headlines

Here's the scenario.  You want to buy a home and you have finally saved up enough money for a down payment and, luckily, home prices and the interest rates are still low.  What should you do first?

An article in Inman News, by Tara Nicholle Nelson, outlines the steps you should take to make this happen in 2012.

1.      First and foremost, says Nelson, fix your credit problems.  "More deals than ever are dying on the vine and credit problems are a top reason home-sale transactions fall out of escrow."  Review your credit report now and correct any errors.

2.      Do Your Homework: 

• Research the areas and neighborhoods you like. Nelson suggests going online to NabeWise.com for great information. Then look for an agent who is familiar with the areas you have chosen. "They can give you a deeper view into the need-to-knows" says Nelson, "like how long homes typically stay on the market and whether they generally go for more or less than the asking price."
• Research local agents. Ask your family and friends for a referral and then follow up online, searching online reviews and their website. Then arrange to meet them to see if it's a good fit for you.
• Look at all types of homes for sale...including distressed properties. When you interview agents, make sure they are knowledgeable in short sales and foreclosures, because there are some good deals to be had! "

"In some areas, more than 40 percent of the homes on the market are short sales and foreclosures, and they involve a very different timeline and set of facts than traditional home sales." Says Nelson, "Read up and talk with the agent candidates you interview about what you should expect from these types of listings, to minimize surprise and manage your expectations way in advance."

3.       Don't Stop Saving!  Nelson says that no matter what amount of cash you have on hand, when you start house hunting, making offers, closing your transaction or moving in, the time will definitely come when you'll wish you had more.

"You might want to ratchet up your offer a bit to best another buyer, or you might just end up with a place that needs a little sprucing up." Says Nelson. "It might be months before you know exactly what you'll need extra cash for, but now is not the time to press the gas pedal when it comes to your monthly spending."

4.      Start Clearing Out:  Especially if you have a house to sell.  This is the time to start donating, selling and giving away all those things you have accumulated.

"Use the proceeds to pad your cash cushion, or tuck the donation receipts away for your tax records next year." suggests Nelson.

This is a great time to buy a house!  Use these tips to make the process easier and be able to get into that new house in 2012!

Read the full story at Inman News.

photo credit: Justin Shearer

Posted in Marketing, Buyer Resources, Ownership

Tom Guest, 2011 President of Metro Brokers speaks to us from the 2012 Annual Meeting held at the Wellshire Event Center in Denver.

Interviewer:   Hi I am Kathy Soltero with MetroBrokersTV.com, and we are at our 2012 Annual Meeting in Metro Brokers here at the Wellshire Event Center in Denver.  We are talking with the 2011 President, Tom Guest.  Tom, thanks so much for being here today, of course it's your event, and. 

Tom Guest:  It's a pleasure to be here. 

Interviewer:   Tell us about how this past year has gone for you as President?

Tom Guest:  Oh! I love this past year, this has been so nice to be serving as Metro Brokers President and serving such a great organization. 

Interviewer:   Tell us about the direction Metro Brokers is heading as far as our whole organization and we are growing?

Tom Guest:  Metro Brokers is growing, it's looking for quality agents, it's looking to expand in markets.  So the sky is the limit on Metro Brokers, it's the best product out there for any agent who is looking for a real estate company to work for. 

Interviewer:   Tell us about the event, this is really, truly amazing, it seems like a lot of people showing up tonight?

Tom Guest:  We probably have about 300 people coming, these are our share holders, and these are the driving force for our organization.  So we are at the Wellshire Inn today, and we are just going to have a great time, great annual meeting. 

Interviewer:   Well, and we are hoping that the next years to come are going to be even better. 

Tom Guest:  Absolutely. 

Interviewer:   Alright, thank you so much for joining. 

Tom Guest:  Thank you. 

Interviewer:   For more real estate related videos like this one, be sure to tune in to MetroBrokersTV.com.

Posted in Annual Meeting

Tenant Screening USA offers complete background checks for landlords, property managers and real estate agents.

Interviewer:   Hi I am Kathy Soltero with Metro Brokers TV, and today we are at our 2012 Annual Meeting at Metro Brokers at the Wellshire Event Center.  We are talking with some of our sponsors here today, and we have Tamara with Tenant Screening Today.  Tamara, tell me a little bit about your company. 

Tamara Bradley:  We are a national tenant screening company.  We specialize in background checks for landlords and property managers.  We've been in the Denver Area for about two and a half years. 

Interviewer:   And you serve realtors as well? 

Tamara Bradley:  Yes we do. 

Interviewer:   How do you help the realtors out? 

Tamara Bradley:  We run the background checks for any potential residents that they might have, screen all of the reports for them, and in most cases give analysis as well, we do a lot of training and assess with setting up files and what not. 

Interviewer:   Are you web based as well, so that you can connect...? 

Tamara Bradley:  Yes we are.  Our web address is TenantScreeningToday.com, and they can find most information about us there. 

Interviewer:   Okay, and what does it take to find out the information about you?  Just going for online or call you?

Tamara Bradley:  Online or call, all of our information again is online. 

Interviewer:  Well we really appreciate you being one of our sponsors here at Metro Brokers, and thank you so much for coming. 

Tamara Bradley:  Thank you. 

Interviewer:   And for more real estate related videos like this one, be sure to tune in to MetroBrokersTV.com.

Posted in Annual Meeting